AFP: BBC under fire over refusal to show Gaza charity appeal

Agence France-Presse
24 January 2009
Excerpt:

Around 400 people gathered for a rally outside BBC offices addressed by speakers including former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn and lawmaker George Galloway, who accused the BBC of bias against the Palestinians.

The crowd chanted “BBC, shame on you” and a few threw shoes at the BBC office.

The numbers later swelled to at least 5,000 for a march through central London.

The Stop The War Coalition, which organised the march, estimates that the ban on broadcasting the appeal could cost up to 10 million pounds (10.5 million euros, 13.6 million dollars) in donations.

The group has organised big rallies opposed to the violence in Gaza in London for the past few weekends.

Around 5,000 people also took to the streets of Britain’s second biggest city, Birmingham, for a pro-Palestinian demonstration, while around 100 Cambridge University students have occupied the law faculty there in protest at Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

[Read the report]